Overwhelmed May Be an Understatement

This is my baby Comet who was officially diagnosed last Monday 12/21. We had gone in on November 7th for a routine check up and her blood glucose was up to 387 from 120 back in April (at that time she was being treated for a UTI). The vet made mention that she could be in a pre-diabetic stage seeing as the numbers were so drastically different in a short period of time. Vet said to change her diet (needs to loose a few lbs anyways) and de-stress as much as possible to allow for possible reversal. She boarded with them the following week while I was out of town to remove a few teeth that were giving her problems and thought may reduce stress. When discharged, we went home with Prescription MD to begin her new glucose management diet in an effort to reverse. After the a period of 4 weeks on MD and eating without the pain of infected teeth, we went back to the doc for another urinalysis and fructosamine. She was down from 11.6lbs to 10.2 (yay weight loss!) but her bg was up to 477. She is currently on Prozinc 1 unit twice a day. I have a glucometer on its way and she goes for her first 10hr curve next Tues 1/5. She does have insurance through VPI and, thankfully, treatment *should* be covered.

I was a nervous wreck the first couple of days after diagnosis. I cried several times throughout the days. I am the only one she depends on and I work crazy hours. I am so worried that I will not be able to give her the best care possible. I will be asking my vet next week if there is anyone I could rely on to help out with either morning or evening injections. While not the norm, my job requires 12-14 hr days sometimes and it's not something I have much control over.

Anyways, I am sure I will have many questions throughout this process and am glad I have found a group of people who can help answer questions through their own experiences. Thanks!

 

Welcome Comet's Person!
I'm pretty new here myself, but I'm sure the more experienced will chime in soon with some advice for you. There are people here who have been dealing with feline diabetes for years, and are extremely knowledgeable.
I know how you feel about crying all the time. I went through that when Shenandoah was diagnosed. But I promise you it gets better. It feels really overwhelming at first, but the pieces start to fall into place.
Post here whenever you have a question or need support. This is a wonderful community!

 

Welcome,

She is so beautiful - what lovely coloring. You and Comet will do great. We were all overwhelmed at first - everyone who replies to your post is paying it forward for help they received.

So glad you are planning to test. Not only is the way to keep her safe but it will give you a lot of confidence to know where her levels are. While you are waiting for you glucometer, you might start messing with her ears, giving her lots of praise and pets while you do. Then add warming her ears. Lots of us use a rice sack - a thin sock filled with raw rice, warmed in a microwave.

Once you are confident testing, you might look at her diet. Most people here feed under 8-10% carb wet food. A vet explains why it is best here: www.catinfo.org. I wouldn't change until you have testing down, as it can lower her levels 100+ points.

We put together a protocol for ProZinc; it is blue in my signature.

 

So glad you & Comet made it here! You will feel overwhelmed for awhile... But there is SO MUCH help on this forum. I used to work 12 hour shifts and I can identify with the crazy work schedule. I did not have a diabetic cat at that time, but I think it will definitely be do-able. My job now requires me to travel periodically and I have had to teach cat-sitters how to give shots, and that's worked out, too.
You have landed in the right place!

 

Welcome
No reason for a prescription food. Here is a list of commercial low-carb canned

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/shortcut-shopping-list-all-8-or-less-updated.117688/

 

Thanks! It's scary but I'm also excited to get started so she can start feeling better!

 

Thanks! I'll take a look at the link. I'm sure I will have plenty of questions!

 

Thanks for the reassurance. I still have my worries but I also feel a lot better since finding this group and knowing I have people willing to help and answer all my crazy questions!

 

Thanks! She was on Wellness dry and I think I will just move her over to their wet formula once I get comfortable with testing. I'm taking the prescrip dry back tomorrow and will feed the prescrip wet through her first curve next week.

 

Lovely pic of Comet in the opening post.


Mogs
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Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- You already have the long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.


With the erratic schedule, ProZinc is a good choice as it can handle more flexible dosing times. And we have some finagles when times need to be tweaked.

 

Welcome Lauren and Comet! Overwhelmed is a word you'll see just about every newbie use, and everyone here was a newbie at one point. We've all been in your shoes, wondering how we'll balance it all, afford it all, but we've managed and so will you. To be truthful, it's going to take a while, so don't be too hard on yourself if things don't come easily, and try to remember that everything you're doing for is for your sugar baby.

You may even be one of the "blessed" ones who's cat could be "diet controlled" due to the fact the the BG numbers, while still too high, weren't so bad. Stress, due to pain, fear, vet trips can cause those numbers to rise. So it's possible that when those bad teeth are gone and healed up, vet trips become more rare and food is only low carb (the lower the better), she may not need insulin at all.

You'll want to make the food switch gradually tho, over the course of a week to 10 days, it'll help avoid gastric upset. It took me 6 weeks to get Goof to eat canned food, he HATED it. There are a lot of good/smart people on here who are all willing to help. One last thing to keep in mind is the mantra that "Every cat is different"(ECID), so don't get too shook up if your sweetie isn't acting the same as others.

 

Welcome Lauren and Comet,

I work crazy hours too. I understand the worry all too well about not being able to be around enough.
However I think that at the moment my kitty is diet controlled more than insulin controlled. If your kitty keeps lower numbers too while at home, switching to a high quality no/low carb wet food *could* be all you need too.
I'm still new at all this too, but diet is VERY important. I have seen this for myself in my kitty's numbers.
Quality freeze dried raw meat you can leave out instead of kibble (Vital Essentials- Vital Cat) has been important for my long days so I can leave it out for him to graze on and not worry about. I feed him Tiki Cat twice a day (morning/evening) I hope your kitty turns up easy too.
Welcome to the board. There are so many very helpful people around here.

 

Your baby is beautiful! I hope that you find a solution that works for you and Comet, it's so hard when you have to work long hours. I am doing about 60+ a week right now until I finish my master's this summer so I can understand your concerns. I will keep you in my thoughts

 

Welcome Lauren and Comet - love the pic. Merlin is on Wellness Turkey. It is only 4% carbs and it is low in phosphorous for kitties with kidney issues. For more reading, also check out everyone's signature. I found it invaluable to see other kittie's spreadsheets as well. Anyway, here is some additional information. Holler if you have any questions.

Good Reading: This is a must read. It is an excellent 18 page informative document that covers feline health and nutrition. Don't take short cuts and read it all. www.catinfo.org Also read other postings and their spreadsheets. You will learn a lot more from others.

Home Testing: Here, we all home test. It is mandatory to understand how your kitty is reacting to the insulin and the dose. You will want to test before each shot and some additional test in between the 12 hour cycle. Another reason to home test is to keep your kitty safe. Find a place in your home where you will always perform the test and give lots of hugs before and after testing. There are many videos showing you how to test. Hometesting Links and TipsHere is a picture of where you test on your kitty. http://s106.photobucket.com/user/chupie_2006/media/testingear/sweetspot.jpg.html

Here is another good link on Home Testing:http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-home-test.htm

Meters: There are many meters. There is a pet meter called the Alpha Trak2 and human meters. Some use the pet meter because it is what the vets use so the numbers will match up. The meter and strips are expensive though. Most use human meters that can be purchased at any pharmacy. It typically reads a little lower than the pet meter but we have ways of compensating those lower numbers. Many use Walmart's brand, Relion Micro, Relion Prime or Relion Confirm. The Micro and Confirm only needs a tiny drop of blood but the strips are a little more expensive than the Prime. The Relion Prime meter needs a little more blood than Micro and Confirm. They cost around $15 and the strips are around 35 cents each.

Lancets: These are used to poke the ear to get blood. There are many different sizes (gauges). It is recommended when you are first starting out to use a 26-28 gauge. Also, it would be a good idea to pick up Neosporin WITH pain reliever to apply on the edge of the ears and don't forget to alternate ears.

Spreadsheets: Our spreadsheet instructions are here. If you look at the signatures of the members here, you will see a link to their kitty’s spreadsheets. We keep track of all our tests. This is basically a place to collect data and help you to determine patterns, doses, etc. It also aids those that may be helping you to better understand your kitty.

Food: There are many reasons why we are here but one is due to feeding dry cat food which is high in carbs. You will want to consider changing your food to wet, low carb food. It is recommended to feed food that is under 10% carbs. Here is a list of cat food to choose from food chartyou will note that the food with fish are lower in carbs however it is recommended that you only give fish once a week due to its mercury content. Many use Fancy Feast, 9 Lives, Friskies, etc. This list can also be found in www.catinfo.org If you are already giving insulin and you have not transitioned to wet, low carb cat food, be sure to test while you are transitioning. This is because by changing to low carb food, it could decrease your kitty’s number by 100 points or more. One last thing, many of us add water to the wet food so your kitty is getting plenty of water to flush out the toxins and to keep them hydrated.

Hypo Kit: Always good to be prepared for possible hypo events which means that your cat has reached dangerously low numbers. It can be fatal, hence, the importance of home testing and collecting data in a spreadsheet. In each of the Insulin Forums are stickie’s labeled Hypo Links. Here is one: How to Handle a Hypo. Please print and post on your refrigerator so everyone in your household is aware of hypo symptoms. You will want to create your hypo kit that would include and not limited to; extra testing strips, honey/karo/maple syrup, high carb food, medium carb food, vet information, etc.

Ketones: Diabetic cats are susceptible to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). It is best to buy testing strips that will measure (if any) ketones in the urine. One brand is Ketostix which can be found at Walmart or any pharmacy. You will want to test periodically unless you continue to get high numbers, then it is suggested to test more frequently. Ketostix typically costs around $10.

Treats: It is always nice to have treats available for your kitty especially when testing or when they decide not to eat. I like using Pure Bites. I have found it at Petsmart and other pet stores. It is freeze dried and the only ingredient is the meat i.e. chicken, duck, etc. If your cat likes it, then I would go to the dog section where it is cheaper than the cat package. It is bigger chunks but no problem in breaking it up. Another option is to use Bonita Flakes. There is a link here somewhere that has a list of low carb treats but I don't have it right now.

Injections: Most folks here use one of these main insulins; Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc. Two hours prior to your insulin shot, you will not want your kitty to eat. Then you will test and then feed. It is best for your kitty to eat a little before your shoot. I shoot while he is eating. The reason why you do not want your kitty to eat two hours prior to your test is because food elevates BG numbers. So you do not want to dose based on a food influenced number. Here is a link on how to give injections.http://www.felinediabetes.com/injections.htm

 

Hi Lauren! Comet is absolutely adorable! There are people here with wonderful advice and much more knowledgeable than me, but I thought I'd say "hello". Reading your post made me think of how I felt when I first had to handle the diabetes diagnosis. I am the only caretaker, too, and I was so concerned about managing the injections, glucose monitoring, and not being home to keep an eye on him as my job requires me to be away for much of the day, though luckily I can be home within the 12 hour mark.

Also, if you need a quick laugh, when Blu was first diagnosed, the vet called to tell me I should come in to learn to do injections. Well, as it happens, I am TERRIFIED of needles. (To the point I lie to my MD to avoid a tetanus booster. for years now. yup. crazy) So, my sister comes with me to the vet, vet does a couple demonstrations with saline, the cat could care less, but my hands are shaking and I just start crying and sobbing right there. A total wreck. Cat's fine, sister's fine, I am NOT fine. At 36 years old, crying is not cute, let me tell you. So my sister does a practice injection as I try to get myself together to encourage me I suppose, and I finally do it. Then I cry more the first couple days of injections. Today, I can be brushing my teeth while I draw up some insulin, poke his ear for some blood and inject Blu without either of us being upset at all. He's good, I'm good, and I can say it adds less than 15 minutes of "work" to my day. So please trust me when I tell you, I know how horribly overwhelming this can all be, but the good thing is, I also know just how simple this can all be. It is just a matter of time and learning, and the folks around here are your most valuable resource. You and Comet are going to be fine - it becomes routine and less stressful.

I really look forward to your posts in a few weeks where your new "norm" is no0t as terribly frightening as it feels right now!

 

I can't even begin to describe some of my meltdowns! I was so scared at first, I actually poked a hole right thru Goof's ear, almost threw up all over my poor cat. I have since begun using his paw pads, we're both much happier now.

 

@blu - Great post, Tanya.

 

In several of my early ear poking attempts, I completely missed Saoirse's ear and speared myself.